Samantha wrote: Junipers don't have thousands of suckers, coming out of the roots, I never said it wouldn't work.

True!. I read that suckers are a nightmare for Forsythia. I have not one sucker yet, but we will see for sure . When I went to the nursury, and I was picking my forsythia most of them had a bunch of suckers, this one didn't have one, so we will see.

I get suckers on lots of trees: hornbeam, hawthorn, and privet. Privet being the worst. If you see them, just pinch/cut them off flush before they thicken up. They're not a worry unless you let them be.

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Nope. It was too heavy to move about, and when it had sprouts of about 40cm tall in spring, I contacted a local bonsai dealer, and made a trade. cash & tools for this tree. I later spotted it in his nursery for a pricetag.. ehm.. Well.. L:et's say I need better negotiation skills .

Not sure he sold it. For those in the Netherlands, if you are at Bonsaicafe, look around in the nursery outside.

leatherback wrote: Nope. It was too heavy to move about, and when it had sprouts of about 40cm tall in spring, I contacted a local bonsai dealer, and made a trade. cash & tools for this tree. I later spotted it in his nursery for a pricetag.. ehm.. Well.. L:et's say I need better negotiation skills .

Not sure he sold it. For those in the Netherlands, if you are at Bonsaicafe, look around in the nursery outside.

Question.

Should I cut branches back while they are green? or wait until they harden off. All the new branches are thickening, but still green. I am afraid they might get too thick, should I cut back? will the harden if I cut back? or should I wait.

Should I cut branches back while they are green? or wait until they harden off. All the new branches are thickening, but still green. I am afraid they might get too thick, should I cut back? will the harden if I cut back? or should I wait.[/quote]

Let them harden off, it aught to be fine this year. Don't worry about it getting too thick, just watch out for those suckers.

This was my first deciduous and it has taught me a lot. The most important thing this tree has taught me is that I wouldn't pick material like this for bonsai today, lol. Being my first deciduous I do like it, and I want to keep working on it. I don't have any pictures of the flowering this year, sorry. I've learned some challenges from this particular species, one of them, flowering.

Challenges and lessons learned:

Flowering: Even though it deed flower this year, it was a bit pathetic. What happens is that it puts out flower buds on the fall, and you have to protect them during the winter... Since I live in a very cold climate, very long winter place, a lot of the buds didn't make it (tree was inside a cold frame).
Trunk thickening: My original plan was to use sacrifice branches, and as you can tell, the trunk did get some a little girth last year. The challenge with this is that forsythia doesn't heal well, and the thicker the sacrifice branch, the worst the healing. So you have to cut the sacrifice branch before it gets too thick, and hope you get a new one (which I did). Lesson learned? let the tree grow until you get the thickness you need, then cut down, don't rely on sacrifice branches. They work, but should be used for detail growth.
Branches: My goal was to grow primary branches and bring the foliage down, as there was almost no growth near the trunk. This is working, the tree backbuds very well, and grows rather fast and easily. I have managed to keep this tree very healthy.
Leaves: Yeap, leaves get huge, as you can tell. I am going to try to defoliate the tree mid summer, and see how it responds.

Conclusion: Forsythia could make really nice flowering bonsai (as google images would tell you). However, you must protect the flower buds all winter. As for a summer bonsai? think twice, leaves are big, so you must try to get a thick trunk to make a bigger tree. So I would recommend letting the tree grow wild in the ground while constantly cutting suckers and keeping ONE trunk, until desired thickness is achieved.

Here's the update:

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I have thought about severely reducing the overall height of the tree, and growing a new leader.